The invention concerns a method of forming curls or waves of hair with a hair styling device having two articulated adjustable arms for receiving a strand of hair to be styled. Each arm has a shaping plate with a shaping surface that remains in contact with the strand of hair being styled during this process. By this method the hair being shaped is heated on the shaping plates and in this heated condition is drawn past at least one shaping body while making contact with it. Moreover, the invention concerns a hair styling device with two arms able to move against each other in the manner of a set of pliers. Each arm of which carries a shaping plate facing the other arm, especially to carry out the aforementioned method.
Hair curls or waves can also be shaped with a so-called straightening iron. Such a hair styling device is customarily used for straightening of hair and has two arms articulated against each other in the manner of a set of pliers. Each of these arms carries a shaping plate on its side facing the other arm. Normally, both shaping plates are heated with one or more electric heating elements. Typically PTC heating elements and/or a flow of hot air is used for the heating of a shaping plate. Between the shaping plates there is a hair styling space, which can be opened or closed due to the articulated arrangement of the arms. The shaping plates are outfitted with a level surface on their side facing the hair styling space. To straighten out hair, it is pulled through the closed hair styling space. The temperature supplied to the hair supports the smoothing process. Such hair styling devices are also used to form curls or waves. This is possible because the arms of such a hair styling device are approximately semicircular of semielliptical in cross section and the heated hair can be wound around the outer sides of the closed arms. In such a usage, the straightener is used in the manner of a curling iron. The outer sides of the arms then function as shaping bodies. However, it turns out that the curls or waves formed in this way only last for a short duration. In many cases after one or two hours they have already gone away.
Starting from this prior art, the problem of this invention is therefore to modify a method as mentioned at the outset for the shaping of curls or waves of hair, as well as an aforementioned hair styling device, so that the lifetime of the shaped curls or waves is substantially improved.